Kellogg Faculty Fellow Emmanuel Katongole (theology and peace studies) has been named a Henry Luce III Fellow in Theology for 2017–18.
Appointed by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada and the Henry Luce Foundation, Luce Fellows provide theological studies with fresh insights and strong leadership while making significant contributions to the church and the broader society. The six 2017–18 fellows are the last to be named, as the program is concluding after 25 years.
As a Luce Fellow, Katongole will investigate the role that Christianity has played in a “crisis of belonging” in postcolonial Africa, a crisis manifested through ethnic, religious, and ecological violence.
His yearlong project, “Who Are My People: Christianity, Violence, and Belonging in Sub-Saharan Africa,” will examine the conditions, possibilities, and shape of communities; non-violent forms of social engagement; and ecological models that Christian faith can nurture and sustain in the global South.
“I am very excited about the award. It’s a great honor, especially this being the final class of Luce fellowships,” says Katongole.
His overarching interest is theological: to locate the role that Christianity has played in the crisis, historically, critically, and constructively. Even as the southward shift in World Christianity has been noted, there is a crying need for in-depth scholarly analysis of the theologies and histories of Christianity in the Global South, he says.
“The award offers me an opportunity to carry out this significant research. I particularly look forward to interviewing and studying some of the most extraordinary activists for non-violent change in Africa, and to discovering the theological and spiritual roots that make their lives and work possible.”
At the conclusion of their research year, Katongole and the other fellows will gather at the annual Luce Fellows Conference to present and critique their work and to discuss with current and past fellows how their work may impact the life of the church and the broader society. They will also present their findings for publication in popular religious journals.
Based at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, Katongole is the author of books on the Christian social imagination, the crisis of faith following the genocide in Rwanda, and Christian approaches to justice, peace, and reconciliation. His latest work is Born of Lament: On the Theology and Politics of Hope in Africa (Eerdmans, forthcoming), which received research support from the Kellogg Institute.
The Kellogg Institute for International Studies, part of the University of Notre Dame’s new Keough School of Global Affairs, is an interdisciplinary community of scholars and students from across the University and around the world that promotes research, provides educational opportunities, and builds linkages related to two topics critical to our world—democracy and human development.
Originally published at kroc.nd.edu